Thassarian, the Death Knight-A World of Warcraft Fanfic
by Alakaia
Summary: Alakaia, Lucian and Dazze arrive in Borean Tundra to find that the Scourge have nearly wiped out the infant town of Farshire. At Valiance Keep they hear rumors of a platoon of soldiers that went missing near Death's Stand, and the trio goes to investigate. Sequel to Howling Fjord.


Thassarian, the Death Knight

The guard post was unusually still. Lucian landed first. He sniffed the air before motioning to the others to land. The group left their mounts and walked to the gate. It was shut fast. Dazze banged on the wood, and the sound echoed back from the valley walls. A murder of crows flew up in a cloud of black feathers, cawing and milling about in the air.

"I got this," Lucian said. He charged the gate, aiming at it with his left shoulder. He grunted as he made contact. The wood groaned and splintered without giving way. He stepped back and charged again, and this time the gate swung open, breaking the silence with a loud _boom_. Alakaia pushed past Dazze, who hissed in frustration. Lucian's chest heaved with his efforts but he moved aside so Alakaia look through into the base. Dazze looked over her shoulder.

All of the guards had been turned into Scourge. Only a thin layer of flesh covered their bones. Many were nothing but skeletons. Icy blue orbs stared from empty eye sockets. They ambled absently, dragging their weapons along the ground. The smell of rotting carcasses gagged Alakaia. Dazze and Lucian stiffened at the familiar stench.

"We're so dead," Dazze whispered. He clutched his battle hammer in both hands, knuckles white.

"Help! Someone help!" a voice said.

"There are survivors," Alakaia said. She strode forward.

"You can't go in there." Lucian grabbed her shoulder. His hair bristled and his muscles were tensed. "You'll contract the plague!"

"We have to save them!" Alakaia gestured with her sword. Lucìan shook his head and backed away from the Scourge, pulling his sister with him.

"What the heck? I could use some action," Dazze said. He turned his raptor gaze on the Scourge; none would pass him once he got into the fight.

"Are you crazy? They'll kill us all," Lucian snarled. Alakaia tried to take his hand from her arm, but he had it in a death grip. He panted.

"Oh, don't tell me. The big bad wolf's scared," Dazze said, grinning.

"I'm not scared!"

"Prove it. Let's save those guards." He grabbed Alakaia's other arm and pulled her away from Lucian. Her brother stood stunned, yellow eyes vacant.

"Lucian?" Alakaia snapped her fingers in his face, annoyed. He started and dropped into a crouch, snarling.

"Bad memories," he said.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Dazze said.

The party carved a path through the Scourge, minding not to be touched by diseased flesh. The stood with backs together, covering each other's blind spots. Dazze's spells burned the skeletons, while Alakaia and Lucian hacked them apart with their weapons. They sweated in spite of the chill northern winds. The fight seemed endless. Their muscles ached, and their hands shook. Finally, when all that remained was a pile of scorched bones, they cautiously went deeper into the base. Behind the ruins of the keep, they found the survivors: two weary guards, with sunken eyes and a week's worth of stubble blackening their faces.

"Thank the Light, you found us! If you hadn't come when you did-" the man broke off, shuddering. His partner comforted him. Both men were in serious want for rations.

"Is this all of you?" Lucian said.

"Thassarian went into that ziggurat yesterday, and he hasn't come out." The second guard pointed to a building just outside the far wall of the base.

"Who's Thassarian? And why haven't you gone after him?" Alakaia said. She hated the thought of leaving a man to face the horrors of the Scourge alone.

"Well, you see, Thassarian is a Death Knight. We figured he knew what he was doing."

"A Death Knight? Are you _mad?_ " Dazze shouted. A shiver rippled through his body. "You're with one of the Lich King's lieutenants and you're okay with that?"

"No, no. Thassarian is different. He escaped Icecrown and the Lich King a long time ago," the first guard said.

"Really? And you're sure he was telling the truth? I've never heard of a Death Knight rebelling against his Master."

"It's true! He's saved us countless time!" The second man pleaded. Thassarian _had_ saved him, and he was the best commander the man had ever served under."He's a born leader, really. The King made him Commander of Unit: S."

"What does the 'S' stand for?" Alakaia asked.

"Suicide."

Lucìan snorted. "I'm sure you're mistaken. There's no such thing as the Suicide unit."

"You wouldn't know, because you were drafted as soon as you became a Veteran," Dazze said.

"And I suppose you're an expert?" Lucian growled.

"Knock it off," Alakaia said. "We have to find Thassarian."

"I am not risking my life for a traitor," Dazze said.

"It's too dangerous. If he couldn't handle it, what makes you think we can?" Lucian said. He shifted from paw to paw and his eyes darted everywhere.

"If what these guards say is true, Thassarian could be a powerful ally. He used to be an officer of the Scourge. He knows all of their weaknesses."

"Oh, it's true," the first guard said.

"Every word," the second guard added.

"All right, then. Let's go find Thassarian."

Alakaia dragged her reluctant group back outside the base towards the ziggurat. It was built from an unknown type of purple stone favored by Scourge buildings. It swept upwards to form a point in the roof but the four corner beams never met. The group held their weapons at the ready. Lucìan looked like he was ready to tear someone's head off. Dazze just wanted to be anywhere else.

The entrance had partly collapsed and Alakaia approached it cautiously. She peered into the tower; a faint purple light throbbed deep inside, in another chamber. She pushed a fallen beam out of the way and climbed through, ignoring Dazze and her brother's protests. Her feet crunched on broken stone. At least, she thought it was stone. The purple glow grew brighter as the chamber drew closer. Sword and shield at the ready, Alakaia poked her head in.

A man dressed all in black plate armor appeared to be choking a giant skeleton clothed in a purple robe. Purple tendrils snaked from the man's hand to the throat of the skeleton, which were the source of the purple light. The skeleton spluttered; it didn't have legs and it was floating a few feet off the ground. Alakaia gasped. From her readings, she knew the being to be a Lich, a skeletal sorcerer that got its power by removing its soul and storing it in a phylactery.

The man's head swiveled around. His eyes were glowing orbs of icy blue fire. His skin was pale, and white wisps of hair escaped from his helmet.

"Are you just going to stand there looking pretty all day?" Thassarian asked.

Alakaia jumped. She had never seen a Death Knight before, and she wasn't sure how to behave around one. He seemed human enough.

"I-" Alakaia began.

"Look, I'll tell you what you can do. Go find this spook's phylactery and bring it to me. I can't hold him all day." The Lich looked at Alakaia and hissed, outraged that the Death Knight knew his weakness. The warrior backed away, fearful of the Lich's reach.

"Why are you still standing there? Go!" Thassarian yelled. Alakaia turned on her heel and fled.

"Did you find Thassarian?" Dazze asked when she had returned.

"He's… captured… a Lich," Alakaia panted. Cold shivers of fear still tickled her spine.

"A Lich? How? That's preposterous!" Lucian said, grinding the earth beneath his feet with his claws.

"Maybe he has abilities we don't know about. How many one-on-one conversations have you had with a Death Knight that wasn't trying to kill you?" Dazze said. Lucian glared at him.

"He said… to destroy… the phylactery," Alakaia said.

"And just how are we going to do that? We don't know where it is, or what it even looks like!" Lucian said.

Suddenly, a harsh, deep call broke through their argument. It sounded like a horse whinnying inside of a cave.

"What the heck?" Alakaia said, surprise overcoming her fear.

Around the crumbled wall of the outpost a rider-less horse appeared. Its hide was white and icy eyes that echoed Thassarian's glowed from its shaffron. It wore black plate armor covered by a tattered purple caparison. It snorted and tossed its head as it cantered towards them.

"That's a Death Knight's charger," Dazze said in awe. He had seen the beasts in battle. They were almost as dangerous as their riders, tearing at soldiers with their teeth and caving in skulls with their hoofs.

The horse trotted closer, and then bolted off towards the east. It stopped and came back, and then ran off again.

"I think it wants us to follow it," Alakaia said.

"It's just a dumb horse. If it knew anything, it'd probably lead us into an ambush," Lucian said.

"It's Thassarian's horse. It knows what to do," Alakaia said firmly. "Come on!" She ran to her gryphon and mounted. The horse took off again, and this time Alakaia followed it. Dazze and Lucian had no choice but to mount up and trail along behind. Lucian's hair bristled in indignation.

The horse led them across the frozen tundra for a few miles to a shallow pool. It nodded towards the water and backed away as the heroes approached.

"Does it seem weird to you that this pool isn't frozen?" Dazze said.

"This must be where the phylactery is," Alakaia said.

"Yes, of course. The horse knew where it was all along," Lucìan said. He glared at the horse, upset at the fact that they had been forced to accept aid from the dumb beast. He walked to the puddle. "I'll retrieve it myself." He stepped into the puddle, and suddenly was sucked down.

"Lucian!" Alakaia cried. She ran to the edge of the puddle and looked into the water. Her brother appeared to be at the bottom of a deep shaft.

"It's a lot deeper than it looks," Dazze said. "Must be some type of enchantment."

Lucian suddenly burst through the water. He emerged, dripping and out of breath. He shook himself furiously, spraying his companions, who protested and wiped their faces. He held a blood red vase gingerly in his claws.

"You got it!" Alakaia said. She tried to take it from her brother, but he held it out of her reach.

"Don't touch it. I'm not sure what it'll do," Lucìan said.

"So, now that we have it, how do we destroy this thing?" Dazze said. He was careful to keep a good distance from the object.

"Try breaking it with a rock or something," Alakaia said. She stared at the phylactery, as if the intensity of her gaze could reveal its secrets.

"Somehow I don't think that's going to work. Liches are hard to kill, and this one is no different. Much as I hate to admit it, we need the Death Knight's help for this," Lucian said. He snorted in disgust and took a spare blanket from his pack. He wrapped it around the vase and put the bundle into his pack. "Don't want to be exposed to this thing longer than is necessary."

"Let's get going, then. Thassarian is running out of time."

The heroes returned to the ruins of the base. The Death Knight's charger waited outside the tower. It whinnied at them as they approached.

"Terribly friendly for a charger," Dazze muttered.

"What makes a Death Knight's horse different from any other?" Alakaia asked.

"I'll tell you later," Lucian said. "We don't have time for that now." He was reluctant to tell her about the horse's true nature.

"Give the phylactery to Thassarian, and be quick about it. The sooner we can get away from here, the better," Dazze said. He took the wrapped bundle from Lucian's pack before the Worgen could protest. He glared at Dazze with his yellow eyes as he watched his sister take the phylactery.

"I'll be quick," Alakaia said as she ran back into the ziggurat. The purple light in the back chamber was dimmer now. She sprinted to the room. Thassarian looked tired; his face glistened with sweat, and he had removed his helmet. Two purple scars on either side of his face ran up his chin and across each eye. Thassarian snapped at her, "Quit daydreaming and hand it here! I have to do this correctly or the Lich will break free." The skeletal sorcerer smiled wickedly; it knew its chance was coming soon. The Death Knight was weakened, and the warrior was too naïve to defend herself.

Alakaia took the vase from its bundle. As her gloved hand brushed across the vase's cold surface, she shuddered uncontrollably. Pure evil seemed to spill from the phylactery; it made her feel dirty and small. Who was she to challenge one of the Lich king's minions?

"Snap out of it girl! Hand it over already!" Thassarian yelled. He broke a hand away from his spell and reached for the phylactery. Alakaia clutched it tightly in her hands.

Thassarian unsheathed his sword and slashed the phylactery. The Lich howled. Alakaia cried out as hards of ruby flew to the floor and began to bubble. Vile smoke rose from the pieces as they melted away. The Lich screamed, clutching at its head. Thassarian dropped his sword and ran to Alakaia; he pulled her down and shielded her just as the Lich exploded into a white inferno.

Fearful of what she would see, Alakaia opened her eyes. The Lich was gone; the ground where it had once been was scorched white. She clutched the phylactery's crystal lid in her fist. Thassarian was still holding her tightly.

"Well, that happened," Alakaia said. Thassarian released her and helped her to her feet. He stepped away quickly, alert for any further danger.

Alakai studied the floor where the shards had fallen. "Is it gone?"

"Yes. With the destruction of the phylactery, the Lich's soul was set free. He's been put to rest."

"Put to rest?"

Thassarian shook his head. "Each Lich is a construct of bones reanimated with a soul that has been stolen away from a human. The soul is bonded to the construct and then stored within the phylactery."

"So that thing used to be a man?"

"Its soul once belonged to a man. The man's body is no doubt picked clean by now."

Alakaia shuddered. "The Lich King's evil knows no bounds."

"That's why I knew I had to escape," Thassarian said. He put his helmet back on and retrieved his sword from where it had fallen. "I have to stop him before he hurts anyone else. His minions killed my family." Thassarian stared at the ground. "I tried to save them, but I got killed myself. Everything went black. I knew I was dead, and I waited for my soul to enter the Light. And then I woke up and he was there. I couldn't get his voice out of my head. I had to do what he said. I murdered hundreds of innocents, created terrible monsters…" he trailed off and stared at the ground.

Alakaia slowly reached out hand. Thassarian stiffened a little when she squeezed his arm. "No. You're a hero. You escaped, you saved the guards, and now you can help us fight the Scourge."  
"I will fight, but not with you or your kind. They don't accept me anymore. From now on, I will go on alone."

"But if we stick together-"

"I'll only make it harder for you." He made a sign with his hands, and a purple portal appeared in the center of the room. He strode towards it. He sheathed his sword and stood with his back to Alakaia. Without turning, he said, "You would be wise to leave Northrend as soon as possible. The darkness here can consume even the greatest light." He stepped through the portal, and it closed with a sudden rush of air that ripped through Alakaia's helmet. She fell to her knees, the afterimage of the portal burned into her vision.


End file.
